US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest • Hacker News Board

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#101

Post by moo » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 3:52 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #94

rickmzp wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoting from my original comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7523278 , since it seems very relevant here. ---- Cuban-American here. Helping Castro's controlled economy before giving control of the government and said economy back to its people is unpopular. Allowing the Cuban people to communicate and band together within the country is attempted all the time by government-affiliated and independent organ…

> Helping Castro's controlled economy before giving control of the government and said economy back to its people is unpopular. Not with the American people it doesn't seem to be [1]. [1] http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/images/publications/2014cubap...

Sometimes those exiles think they talk for everybody. Like that Elian circus.

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#102

Post by DominikR » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:05 PM UTC

That's the reason why countries like Russia and China make it so hard for NGOs to work within their borders.

I can't blame them for that, why should they allow foreign governments to stir up protests in their countries?

Is anyone better off in Libya, Syria or Egypt after the so called "Arab Spring" destabilized these countries?

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#103

Post by kenrikm » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:30 PM UTC

morgante wrote: post #29

I'm sure this will bring me lots of downvotes, but I actually applaud these tactics. Helping people in oppressive regimes to communicate freely with each other is one of the more humanitarian actions the US can take, and this sort of connectivity is critical in allowing people a degree of freedom even under totalitarian governments. Truly repressive regimes are out there, and without foreign interference and investme…

My wife is from Cuba, you don't know the half of it, what most people hear about Cuba and the reality are two completely different things. Anything that can be done to take down that oppressive totalitarian government should be done. It's only a slight step above North Korea.

Down vote all you want, but know that it's ignorance intentional or not that fuels the vote.

If you're interested in learning more start with this speech by Marco Rubio, he hits on hard truth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUN7d1eYUpM

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#104

Post by Crito » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:32 PM UTC

moo wrote: post #82

gadders wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always think that when people compliment Cuba's medical system it sounds an awful lot like people saying of Mussolini "but at least he made the trains run on time".

Did he? Well that is commendable. I also read that he was not gung-ho like hitler to round up the jews. Otherwise, yeah, the dude had to go.

Technically no he didn't, not any more so than they normally run on time in Italy anyway. Even if we assume it was true though, should it really color our opinion of him?

I mean shit, during that time period the Germans campaigned against smoking and began construction of the autobahn. Those things were positive and are correctly credited as things that they got right, but obviously those things should not be used to justify the regime in any way.

(http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp)

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#105

Post by ipsin » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

bitsteak wrote: post #21

biesnecker wrote: post #2

This is such a bizarre story. It doesn't even seem like it was "the US" as much as it was an overeager and undersupervised team within USAID. It's sad, too, because USAID does good work in a lot of places around the world, and that works is undermined if (rightly or wrongly; seemingly rightly in this case) host governments think that USAID is an arm of the US intelligence community.

What in this article associates USAID with the intel community? The fact that they both use technology?

Nothing in the article, but they have had a close association in the past. For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Public_Safety

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#106

Post by moo » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:43 PM UTC

Crito wrote: post #104

moo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did he? Well that is commendable. I also read that he was not gung-ho like hitler to round up the jews. Otherwise, yeah, the dude had to go.

Technically no he didn't, not any more so than they normally run on time in Italy anyway. Even if we assume it was true though, should it really color our opinion of him? I mean shit, during that time period the Germans campaigned against smoking and began construction of the autobahn. Those things were positive and are correctly credited as things that they got right, but obviously those things should not be used to…

Nazi crimes did not stop the U.S. from recruiting their rocket scientists and welcoming their intelligence people into the fold. I was just correcting Morgante. I'm not saying Cuba is some social paradise. But you sure seem to be comparing Cuba to Nazi Germany. Something I thought only those exiles did.

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#107

Post by kenrikm » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:45 PM UTC

smutticus wrote: post #87

morgante wrote: post #29

I'm sure this will bring me lots of downvotes, but I actually applaud these tactics. Helping people in oppressive regimes to communicate freely with each other is one of the more humanitarian actions the US can take, and this sort of connectivity is critical in allowing people a degree of freedom even under totalitarian governments. Truly repressive regimes are out there, and without foreign interference and investme…

The Batista regime, which came before Castro, was much worse for the people of Cuba. The US supported the Batista regime because of commercial interests. I'm not going to argue that the Castro is a saint, but the people of Cuba are definitely being treated better than had Batista stayed. No thanks to the US of course, which did everything it could to reinstitute a more corporate friendly dictator in Cuba. Now it seem…

Wow, I'm speechless. You really believe that? My wife is Cuban I've spent a lot of time talking with her grandparents, parents, friends etc.. on the subject. Batista was no saint but things got 100X worse after the revolution. You won't hear the on the ground truth unless you speak with people who were there.

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#108

Post by gclaramunt » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:58 PM UTC

bayesianhorse wrote: post #99

BgSpnnrs wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a more commendable tactic would be to not stick their oar into sovereign state's business with a mind to ruin their systems of government. I suppose not killing people is commendable, but it is pretty low bar for moral behaviour.

If you believe in democracy, you can't believe in any "moral right" or legitimacy of a non-democratic government. Castro, Assad, Putin, neither of them has a moral right to run their countries, as only a freely elected government in a human-rights respecting state can have legitimacy. That doesn't mean these leaders don't have "a claim" to power, or that you necessarily have to actively start deposing them. Yet the o…

But you need to be careful to discern what's """real""" and what's propaganda.

From the outside, I can also paint a bleak picture of US election process (vote fraud, electoral college, gerrymandering) and if I select the correct news, the US have a presidency bordering on dictatorship that's bent on taking basic rights from the population, and a repressive police force.

Besides, the qualification of "human-rights respecting state" might be too much if you consider recent (and not so recent) history.

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#109

Post by paulrd » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 5:04 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #79

zimbatm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, let's force freedom and democracy down people's throat. It didn't work so well in Irak but I'm sure the next one is going to be a success ! Everyone who doesn't think like us is wrong and needs to be set on the right path anyways.

Iraq and Afghanistan are better off than they were before.

Really? Iraq lost 4% (1.45M) of it's population due to the 2003 invasion. What did the Iraqi people get in return for these 500 9/11's?

Re: US Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest

#110

Post by stefantalpalaru » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 5:05 PM UTC

morgante wrote: post #29

I'm sure this will bring me lots of downvotes, but I actually applaud these tactics. Helping people in oppressive regimes to communicate freely with each other is one of the more humanitarian actions the US can take, and this sort of connectivity is critical in allowing people a degree of freedom even under totalitarian governments. Truly repressive regimes are out there, and without foreign interference and investme…

VoA in Romania was just propaganda giving out false hopes and giving people the illusion that by listening in secret to forbidden radio stations they were somehow fighting the regime.